The Calm after Chaotic Space
by mescarlett
Summary: After Chakotay helped release Voyager from the confines of Chaotic Space, various members of the crew reflect back upon their time spent there, and Captain Kathryn Janeway finds herself in the middle of a dilemma - the boxing ring!


**The Calm after Chaotic Space**

"I just can't believe she trusted him," Ensign Harry Kim mulled over dinner in the mess hall to fellow senior officers Tom Paris and B'Elanna Torres referring to the incident hours earlier when Commander Chakotay stormed on to the bridge and all but shoved Harry away from his post in an effort to release _Voyager_ from chaotic space.

"Harry, why wouldn't she trust him?" B'Elanna questioned, who had not been present on the bridge when the incident occurred but had heard the story relayed countless times from both Harry and Tom.

"He was out of his mind, B'Elanna. He could have gotten us all killed. I mean, come on, think about it guys, some type of alien had gotten inside his head and trapped him in a state of confusion thinking he was in a boxing ring yet these beings were also communicating with him. He was clearly out of his mind and had been restricted to sickbay. Yet, he storms on to the bridge, shoves me out from my post and then basically tells us what to do."

B'Elanna raised her eyebrows before replying, "Harry, he was helping us. The beings were communicating with him on how to get us out of chaotic space."

"Not to mention, Captain Janeway was by his side watching his every single move and watching precisely what he keyed in to _Voyager's_ system, Harry. She wasn't going to let him do anything out of control," Tom interjected.

Harry shook his head in both a mixture of confusion and frustration. "I know that, but what if his calibrations had been wrong. We were relying exclusively on him to get us out of chaotic space. None of us had a clue what he was doing. No one had any idea what was being relayed to him in his head. It was all up to him or some form of him. Heck, even Tuvok questioned her. You questioned her, too, Tom, but still she believed him."

Now it was B'Elanna shaking her head. "I don't get it, Starfleet. He's her First Officer. She knows him probably better than any of us, well maybe except for me, but nonetheless, why wouldn't she trust him, Harry? Yes, he had been possessed by this alien, but she was there in sickbay to witness his episodes with them. It was her who convinced him to try to communicate with them, or so I've heard through the grapevine, so why is this such a big deal?"

"Yeah, Harry, it almost sounds as if you're jealous that Chakotay was getting more trust and attention from the Captain than you," Tom jokingly added before noticing the look that crossed the Ensign's face. "I was just kidding, Harry. Lighten up a little. Seriously, I do understand where you are coming from. But, the point is, she did trust him, and he ultimately got us out of chaotic space and there's no telling what's going through his own mind right now. Whether it was him or the aliens keying the commands in to your post, it doesn't matter. Captain Janeway wouldn't have let him do anything to harm us."

Harry nodded his head while staring down at his plate that was still filled with the concoction that Neelix had made for dinner that evening. He wasn't sure why it bothered him so much, but it just kept nagging at him. While aimlessly allowing his mind to drift and staring down at his plate, he almost quietly whispered, "Do you ever wonder about those two?"

"Harry!" B'Elanna exclaimed.

Tom couldn't help but smirk because he had a long standing betting pool on their Captain and Commander for years now. "Come on, B'Elanna, who wouldn't wonder about the two of them? They're practically magnetically attached to each other. They can almost read each other's thoughts. The Doctor said Chakotay was terrified when the aliens first attempted to communicate with him, yet she somehow convinced him to keep trying. He wouldn't do that for just anyone, you know. I've still got my betting pool going on what happened during those weeks they were stuck together on that planet all those years back."

"New Earth," Harry interjected and half smirked. "Yeah, that's one thing we'll never find out the answer to."

"You two are crazy, but is it too late for me to add my money to the pool, too?" B'Elanna added before the trio broke out in a shared laugh.

Speculation would always be rampant upon _Voyager_ wondering not only what happened on New Earth, but what else could possibly still be ongoing, if anything with their senior leadership. Truth be told, the crew didn't really care; they just wanted everyone to be happy, get along and ultimately try to get home. If something blossomed and developed here in the far reaches of the Delta Quadrant, it was no one's fault, and deep down the crew secretly hoped for happiness, especially for their Captain, whom they all loved and respected, but were somewhat worried about because they all saw the concern etched across her face over the past few days of being not only trapped in chaotic space but what was happening with Chakotay. It only added fuel to their fire seeing her pacing back and forth and rushing off to sickbay for Chakotay's sake, and it ultimately added to Tom's betting pool.

While most of her senior officers enjoyed dinner after finishing their duties for the day, Captain Kathryn Janeway remained behind on the bridge. She willingly accepted the offer to pull double-duty shifts filling in for a recovering Chakotay. As she sat staring out the view screen, she couldn't help but reflect back on the day as stars whipped by at warp speed. Replaying the events over and over in her head, she realized that she could have very easily lost Chakotay during this ordeal, and she had asked him to risk his sanity to continue communications. Shaking her head to come back to reality, she realized just how grateful she was for him, but she was also concerned about the repercussions of such a trauma. Lifting her head, she found herself looking square into the eyes of Tuvok, who had come down from his position to stand in front of her.

"Tuvok?" she questioned.

"You need rest, Captain. You're had a long few days worried about the ship and the Commander, but you need to go eat and sleep."

She smiled faintly at him and glanced back up at him. "I'm pulling double shifts, Tuvok, as I promised I would take this shift in Chakotay's absence. I appreciate your concern, but I'm fine."

He studied her for a few moments. "Captain, your willingness to step up and fill in for the Commander is admirable, however, I will fill in for him because your mind is adrift and you need to go eat and get some rest."

Kathryn stood from her seated position and raised an eyebrow at her tactical officer. "Are you relieving me of command, Tuvok?"

"Unofficially, yes; officially, no. You need to look after yourself so that you are well rested for what lies ahead."

She nodded her head and patted him on the arm. "Thank you, Tuvok. You know me all too well. You have the bridge," she stated before retreating to the turbolift.

Once inside she ordered the computer to take her to deck three before interjecting, "Computer, halt turbolift," as she felt the lift came to an abrupt stand-still. She stared at the walls around her questioning herself as to whether she should even consider doing what she was about to do.

"Computer, locate Commander Chakotay."

"Commander Chakotay is in holodeck two," the computer replied.

She shook her head and responded. "Computer, deck six." As the lift resumed motion she shook her head and muttered to herself, "I'm only going to check on his well-being."

Outside the doors to the holodeck, she momentarily paused and seriously reconsidered whether she should interrupt his personal time on the holodeck fearing that he may be in the middle of one of his Native American rituals or some other private program. But in the end, her gut told her that she needed to check on him, and personally thank him for all that he had gone through for _Voyager_ , for her.

Stepping inside the holodeck, she immediately realized that she was inside one of the Starfleet Academy training facilities, as she saw a few holo-characters working out on varying machines, but didn't see any sign of Chakotay. Quietly she continued around the bend and there in the middle of the room was a large boxing ring with Chakotay in the midst of the ring squaring off with some alien looking opponent. She stayed quiet and somewhat hidden behind a column in the room. Part of her shook her head in frustration that she had ordered him to rest, yet he was here in the holodeck enduring a boxing program. But another part of her was intrigued as his precision and how devoted he was to the sport. She couldn't help but stare at him as he fought with his opponent with his coach guiding him from the sideline. She leaned against the column and crossed her arms and stood contentedly taking in the sight before her. She had always liked sports, both playing and watching them, yet boxing was one that she had never tried. So, standing here watching her closest friend in the ring, she couldn't help but be curious.

A few minutes after she had been watching, Chakotay struck a blow that knocked his opponent out cold on the mat. Chakotay glanced up and around the room and that's when his eyes locked on Kathryn's.

"Kathryn?" he questioned which caused all the holo-characters to turn their heads in her direction and issue few cat-calls in her direction. "Computer, freeze program," Chakotay stated but never left his position in the ring.

She smirked and stepped directly up to the side of the ring and stared up at him. "I thought you were supposed to be resting?"

"I can't stay in my quarters all day. It makes me go stir-crazy. I needed some exercise and needed to get out, so I came here."

She nodded her head in somewhat understanding. "May I?" she asked nodding towards the ring.

He separated the ropes with his foot and extended his hand to help her climb up into the ring. Once inside, she paced around and looked down at the opponent who was laying on the mat. "Are you sure this is good for you? I mean, Chakotay, you were trapped mentally in a boxing ring for days. Are you ready for this?"

He couldn't help but smile because she was unconsciously rambling and was saying it with almost a nervous inflection in her voice, which was highly out of character for her. He could sense the worry that was coming from her, even when she didn't want it to be visibly seen. Stepping closer to her, he rested his glove covered hand on her shoulder to draw her attention back. "I'm fine, Kathryn. Yes, I may have been trapped mentally in the boxing ring, but this is helping me get it out, as crazy as that may seem."

She nodded her head and stared intently at him for a few moments, as if she were trying to read his inner soul and search for any sign of discomfort, stress or fear. "I owe you a thank you," she started but he shook his head and cut her off, "No, you don't."

"But, Chakotay, your mind was being overwhelmed by these alien creatures. I know they terrified you when they tried to contact you; the Doctor told me so and I could see the fear in your eyes. Yet when I asked you, you willingly endured more torture to talk to them. We owe you, Chakotay. I owe you," she added in almost a whisper.

Chakotay stared down at her. It was his duty as her First Officer to protect her, yet he ultimately felt he would always protect her because he cared for her in more ways than he could ever admit to her. He wouldn't admit that he was still somewhat afraid to close his eyes because he kept having flashbacks, but he imagined she could sense it. Staring at her, he realized she was riddled with worry for him and what all he endured.

"Hey, you'll never admit it and you'll never let anyone see it, but I appreciate your concern and worry for me. You were always by my side in sickbay and anywhere else. You trusted me even when I may not have been myself. If we owe anyone, we owe you for believing in my crazy self," he added with smile that showed off his dimples and gained a smile from her in response. "Now we're getting all sentimental when here I was hoping you had come to invite me for dinner," he added jokingly which made her laugh.

"Well, Tuvok all but relieved me of my second shift saying I needed to eat and rest. So, I haven't eaten and would love to have a dinner guest in the event I burn down my quarters. But before dinner, I want to give this a try."

Chakotay's eyebrows shot up higher than they ever had before. "Give what a try? Boxing?" he asked almost incredulously.

"Oh, that's what you're doing? I thought this was fishing," Kathryn jokingly replied before laughing. "Yes, boxing. It's always intrigued me and I've always wanted to give it a shot. I know I'm still in my uniform, but just let me take a few swings at a bag or something. You can teach me."

He couldn't help but laugh at the irony of the thought of teaching Kathryn Janeway, no Captain Kathryn Janeway, how to box. "Are you sure?" he questioned and watched as she nodded in response. "Hold up your hands," he ordered and carefully examined the size of her hands before replicating a smaller sized pair of boxing gloves. "I'm not going to tape up your hands, as we typically do before putting the gloves on because we're not going to get too overboard. If you're serious about learning to box, then we'll go down this path later and sign you up for lessons."

She smirked in response wanting to add another comment but refrained because it would have been highly inappropriate, but she was pretty sure he saw the flash that went through her eyes. "I don't even want to know what you were just thinking," he said as he helped her with her gloves.

"What do I get to hit? That alien down there? A punching bag?"

He laughed. "Are you that upset that you have such a strong desire to hit something? It's not all about punching, Kathryn. There are movements, steps, defending yourself, blocking, all sorts of things to learn, but if you're only wanting to learn the punches first, well, we'll start with me."

"No! Chakotay, I can't take a swing at you!"

"I'm going to block you, Kathryn, so you're not going to hurt me, but for precautionary sakes, I'm going to use these pads to block your shots. But it won't hurt me, at least I don't think it will," he added while catching the death glare that was apparent on her face. He knew she could take care of her own self and he was a little worried about how much pent up aggression she was about to unleash on him. The only saving grace was that her uniform was going to be more restrictive, and her four inch heel boots would hinder her mobility. "Now, just a few swings, Kathryn. We're not doing anything fancy until you get out of uniform."

She couldn't refrain the smirk and sly smile that spread across her face. "I'm sorry, Captain, that was inappropriate and it's not what I meant," he replied making sure to call her by her title.

"Drop the rank, Chakotay. It's just me, Kathryn. I know I never let my hair down, so to speak and allow myself to have some fun. And you, of all people, know you can pretty much say whatever to me. But I understand because this uniform is going to hinder me, but just teach me a couple of quick shots."

"Yes, ma'am," he replied before helping her adjust her stance and teaching her some brief basics about her stance before showing her how to jab, upper-cut and a few other quick blows that would do damage to anyone who may be trying to attack her. He realized she was a quick learner as she had picked this up relatively quickly. The blows that she landed on his pads were quite strong for someone of her stature, but he knew she was a strong, powerful and stubborn woman.

Chakotay had paused for a moment but told her to continue practicing air jabs. He had lowered his protective pads and glanced around to look for something else for Kathryn to practice with. She had been focusing so intently on the technique with her fast, quick jabs that she failed to realize Chakotay had suddenly stood back up. She forcefully let loose an upper cut that connected with his left cheekbone and levelled him to the mat within seconds.

As soon as she made connection with his face, she screamed in fear as she watched Chakotay careen backwards and land on the mat. Instinctively he had closed his eyes and winced some in pain. Kathryn immediately dropped to her knees beside of him while she desperately tried to pull the gloves from her hands to apply pressure to the blood that slowly trickled down his face.

"Chakotay," and she paused as she was nearly overcome with emotion but fought it because she was afraid of how severely he was hurt, especially after his prior issues off and on all week. Somehow in the midst of all the chaos, she managed to tap her comm badge, "Janeway to Sickbay," she stated and awaited the Doctor's response. Before she could respond, Chakotay had taken hold of her arm and shook his head indicating for her to call off the Doctor.

"Captain? Are you alright?" the Doctor replied.

"Yes, sorry, Doctor. False alarm. Janeway out," she replied while Chakotay helped to unlace the gloves from her hands.

"Oh, Chakotay, I am so, so sorry. We have to get you to sickbay. You're bleeding and it might have…"

His light chuckling rattled her attention. "You have one hell of a punch, Kathryn. We should have just let you go head-to-head against Seska. I would've paid good money to see that match-up," he replied and caught a swat on his arm from her.

"And who would you have placed your money on, Chakotay?" she questioned while cradling his face in her tiny palm as she gently tried to apply pressure to his wound to stop the bleeding.

He pulled his face away from her hand and watched as it dangled in mid-air. Slowly he sat up but stared deeply into her eyes. "Do you really even have to ask that question, Kathryn? My money would always have been on you, hands down. Even having never been the victim of an assault by you, at least not yet then, I would have still placed anything on you. But, I never would have allowed Seska to hurt you nor would I allow anyone to hurt you for that matter."

Her mouth was slightly agape in prepared response to his initial statement, but his last comment caused her to stop thinking momentarily. She reached out again to caress and apply pressure to his cheek wincing her own self for the pain she inflicted on him. "Thank you, Chakotay," she whispered, "for always being my right hand. But, we need to get this face of yours fixed or Mr. Paris will only have more fuel to add to his betting pool fire."

He chuckled. "I think we should let them wonder. Let me go on the bridge like this tomorrow, and then I'll get it fixed after. Why don't we play with them a little, Kathryn? There's no harm in that is it?"

She smiled that beautiful smile that she so rarely did. "I'll agree to it, if you'll cook me dinner. I've already damaged your face, so there's no telling what I may do to dinner."

"Agreed," he stated while standing up and extending his hand to her pulling her up alongside of him. "What?" he questioned while looking down at her.

"I can't apologize enough. I mean here you've been in sickbay for days with issues with your head, and now I literally go and sucker punch you. I could have caused you more damage."

He laughed and placed his hand on her lower back leading her towards the ropes. "I'm not sure what's hurt worse – the aliens in my head or my ego getting KO'd by my Captain."

"Well, your Captain is more than willing to help soothe your pain since I already put so much pressure on you initially and now I've leveled you, I owe you big time. If you'll start dinner, I'll allow you to soak your aches away in my bubble bath," she added with a wink while stepping out of the boxing ring.

"With you?" he said aloud without realizing. Once he comprehended what he had said, he started to apologize but she shook her head. "You never know, Commander, you just may get lucky, one day," she added with a seductive sly smile as she sashayed just ahead of him out the holodeck doors and down the hallway to the awaiting turbolift.

The doors to the lift opened and out poured Harry, Tom and B'Elanna, who were en route to the holodeck themselves for a post work day adventure. Their mouths dropped when they saw Chakotay with his bloodied face.

"Chakotay, what alien got the best of you in the boxing ring?" B'Elanna jokingly quizzed.

Without missing a beat, Chakotay replied, "Oh a little alien vixen named Kitten Kat," he stated while stepping into the lift with an already waiting Captain Janeway. As the doors closed to the lift, they couldn't help but chuckle at the looks of astonishment etched upon their senior officers' faces. "I may shouldn't have said that," he replied almost embarrassed.

She draped her arm through his. "Oh, I think it was spot on perfect. It'll make them wonder just exactly what did transpire on the holodeck."

"But you realize that half of _Voyager_ will have heard about this before the hour is up and wagers will be upped in Tom's betting pool."

She stared up at him. "You know, Chakotay, if I worried about half the wagers and bets that occur on this ship, I'd be old, wrinkled and grey by now. Let them have fun just like we're about to."


End file.
